The idea behind the alphabet - that language with all its wealth of meaning can be recorded with a few meaningless signs - is an extraordinary one. So extraordinary, in fact, that it has occurred only once in human history: in Egypt about 4000 years ago. Alpha Beta follows the emergence of the western alphabet as it evolved into its present form,... more...

Fifteen-year-old Francis?s father has committed suicide and nothing will be the same again. Suicide is ugly, unglamorous, and it is never a solution. Its aftermath is dreadful. At first, Francis feels a terrible guilt. Could he have been a better son? What if he hadn?t left his home in Montreal to go on a brief holiday in New York the weekend it... more...

Winner of the AAAL Book Award 2015 Winner of the Modern Language Association's Thirty-Third Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize Winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2014 Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations introduces a new way of looking at the use of English within a global context. Challenging traditional approaches in second... more...

The ultimate rapid language-learning guide! For those who?ve despaired of ever learning a foreign language, here, finally, is a book that will make the words stick. At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn?t learn them in school -- who does? -- rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and... more...

With increasing interest in media power across media policy and the cultural industries, this is a timely revisting of the classic idea of 'media imperialism'. Boyd-Barrett presents a thorough retake for the 21st Century, exploring how structures of power still regulate our access to media. more...